Kurds in Iraq vote in independence referendum

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An Iraqi Kurdish man shows his ink-stained finger after voting in the Kurdish independence referendum in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMEDSAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images

Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani (C) and his wife Nabila (L), cast their vote for the Kurdish independence referendum at a hotel in Arbil on September 25, 2017.
Iraqi Kurds voted in an independence referendum, defying warnings from Baghdad and their neighbours in a historic step towards a national dream. / AFP PHOTO / AHMED DEEBAHMED DEEB/AFP/Getty Images

Ahmed Deeb/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images

An Iraqi Kurdish man shows his ink-stained finger after voting Monday in the Kurdish independence referendum at a stadium in Arbil which is being used as a polling station.

A woman waits to cast her referendum vote at a voting station on September 25, 2017 in Kirkuk, Iraq. Despite strong objection from neighboring countries and the Iraqi government. Some five million Kurds took to the polls today across three provinces in the historic independence referendum. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

An Iraqi Kurdish woman wearing the Kurdish flag on her face flashes the victory gesture amid celebrations in the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017 as Iraqi Kurds vote in a referendum on independence.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYEAHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

An Iraqi Kurdish boy with the Kurdish flag face-painted on his cheek poses during a celebration in the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017 as Iraqi Kurds vote in a referendum on independence.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYEAHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqi Kurds casts their votes in the Kurdish independence referendum in the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYEAHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

An Iraqi Kurdish man poses with his inked fingers after casting a vote during a referendum on independence from Iraq in Irbil, Iraq, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, says parliament has approved several tough measures in response to the Iraqi Kurds' contentious vote on independence from Baghdad. The referendum on independence is non-binding, but it has strained tensions with Baghdad and regional powers. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

A picture taken on September 25, 2017 shows members of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) security forces, affiliated to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, deploying in the streets of the northern city of Kirkuk during the vote on the Kurdish independence on September 25, 2017.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / Marwan IBRAHIMMARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqi Kurdish children celebrate with the Kurdish flag in the streets of the northern city of Kirkuk on September 25, 2017 as Iraqi Kurds vote in a referendum on independence.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYEAHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

Kurdish officials count votes after the close of polls during the referendum on independence at a polling station in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMEDSAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images

Kurdish officials count votes after the close of polls during the referendum on independence at a polling station in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMEDSAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images

Kurdish officials break the seals off a ballot box after the close of polls during the referendum on independence at a polling station in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017.
The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Baghdad, following which Iraq's federal parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003, but also neighbours Turkey and Iran who are concerned it could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMEDSAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images

IRBIL, Iraq – Kurds packed polling station across northern Iraq on Monday in a historic referendum on independence despite vigorous opposition from the country’s central government as well as regional and world powers.

Church bells tolled and imams implored Kurds to go out and vote over mosque loud speakers when polls opened across the Kurdish region, a wide swath of mountains, oil fields and desert that has been run as a semiautonomous enclave for decades.

Local news showed prominent Kurdish figures casting their ballots, proudly displaying the purple voter mark on their fingers in what they described as a national duty to begin the slow process of secession from the Iraqi state.

The poll is expected to produce an overwhelming “yes” vote that many Kurds see as the culmination of a century-long and bloody struggle for self-determination. Kurdish authorities said 3.9 million people are eligible to vote and results could be expected within 72 hours of polls closing at 6 p.m. Monday.

But other fears it could set off another unpredictable and destabilizing cascade across the region.

Neighboring Turkey and Iran worry Iraq Kurdish succession could further embolden their own Kurdish minorities, including a separatists faction that has fought Turkish forces since the 1980s.

The United States, traditionally a strong ally of Iraq’s Kurds, has said the timing of the referendum threatens the fight against the Islamic State amid claims that the militant group is on its last legs. American officials also worry the Kurdish move will weaken Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ahead of national elections next year while empowering sectarian political forces.

For his part, Abadi tried up to the last minute to block the vote, and Iraqi leaders insist they will not recognize the outcome – setting up a potential political standoff.

But Iraq Kurds appeared intent on sending a powerful message as a distinct political force with a culture, language and history of their own. Many voters perceived the ballot as symbol of their unity and separate political path, rather than an immediate separation from Iraq.

Lamia Amin, 60, linked arms with her blind husband as they walked out of a polling place in a working-class section of Irbil, the Kurdish capital. She said she could not sleep the night before out of excitement for the referendum.

Amin, the mother of a police officer and a member of the Kurdish fighting force known as peshmerga, said she cast her vote in honor of her brother who was killed fighting an insurrection against former dictator Saddam Hussein in 1991 in the aftermath of the Gulf War.

She eagerly showed that she had changed her Facebook profile photo to a picture of her brother.

“God willing we will have a country,” she said. “We have sacrificed so much, waited so long. We can wait a little longer.”

Her husband, Mohammed Sharif, 72, smiled and said Kurds will be remembered as “Hollywood heroes” for their determination.

Kawa Sulieman, a 52-year-old mechanic, said voting was “the first joy of his life” and that he hopes an independent Kurdish state would lead to a prosperity he’s rarely known.

“A pension, at least,” he said. “I’m tired of broken promises.”

Polling places also drew members of minority groups in the Kurdish region such as Sunni Arabs, who enthusiastically lined up to vote. But they found their names not appearing on voter rolls, raising questions about the integrity of the referendum which has not been certified by major international observers.

Khalil Hassan, 70, angrily railed against the central government of Iraq which he accused of displacing him from his home in Salaheldeen province in 2015 through airstrikes during a campaign to uproot Islamic State militants. Since then he said he’s lived in Kurdish territory as an internally displaced person.

“I voted for Kurdistan because the Shiites, the Iraqi government, destroyed our homes and had no mercy for anyone,” he said. “No one has ever insulted me here. We support Masoud Barzani with our voices and our blood.”

International observers expressed concerns that individual results will not be released by region or district, making it impossible to know how people in disputed areas voted.

The vote has proved to be unpopular with the both the Kurdish Regional Government’s rivals and allies. The Iraqi central government, along with the United States, Iran and Turkey, have called the referendum illegitimate and have vowed not to recognize its results, saying it is a dangerous step toward the division of the country.

Iraq and the United States were especially troubled by the Kurdish decision to include areas like oil-rich Kirkuk, cities which are ethnically mixed and have been historically claimed by both Kurds and Arabs.

Iran and Turkey, in particular, fear the vote will inspire similar separatist sentiments among their own sizable and restive Kurdish populations. Both countries have held military exercises along their borders with the Kurdistan region ahead of Monday’s vote.

In a sign of the regional spillover from the vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threatened tough action against the Kurdish authorities, including the cutting of a pipeline carrying oil from northern Iraq across the Turkish border, as well as unspecified military action and other measures.

Turkey, which has battled a decades long insurgency by Kurdish militants at home, has become alarmed of late by increasingly assertive movements for Kurdish independence across its borders in Syria and Iraq. Erdogan has also faced pressure from Turkish nationalists who are vehemently opposed to Kurdish autonomy.

On Monday, Turkey’s strident opposition to the ballot was splashed across the front pages of the country’s newspapers.

Masoud Barzani, the KRG president, an erstwhile ally of the Turkish government, was referred to as “insolent” and the vote as “chaos.”

Erdogan warned that Turkey could block the KRG’s oil exports. “Turkey is in control of the tap,” he said, during an appearance in Istanbul on Monday, referring to a pipeline that carries hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from northern Iraq across Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea.

It was “not possible” for Turkey to allow an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq, Erdogan added, while appearing to threaten military action. “We can suddenly come one night,” he said.

Iran on Sunday closed its airspace to flights to and from Iraqi Kurdish cities administered by the KRG in Iraq – while Iraq’s central government demanded all ports and oil terminals in the Kurdish controlled areas be handed back to federal custody.

On Sunday, Barzani, whose party and powerful political family have been the primary engine behind the independence push, said the vote is the beginning of a years-long separation process from Iraq that he hopes will be achieved through dialogue and negotiations.

Baghdad, on the other hand, has accused Barzani of acting unilaterally and abandoning negotiations over revenue-sharing, borders and oil sales.

Abadi, the prime minister, on Sunday said in a nationally televised speech that the vote was a cynical move to distract Kurds from a financial crisis that has seen public salaries go unpaid for years and accused the KRG of widespread corruption.

Barzani is likely to find an even more intractable Iraqi government once the referendum is completed.

On Monday, Iraq’s parliament approved a series of resolutions intended to punish the Kurds including the closing of borders between the two regions, ordering Iraqi troops into disputed territories taking part in the vote and dismissing any civil servants who voted in the referendum.

U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration that the referendum is a vehicle to keep Barzani in power. Barzani’s term expired in 2015 but he has refused to step down – although he has indicated he will not run in elections scheduled for November.

The referendum was not initially backed by all Kurdish parties but as international opposition grew, internal disputes over its timing were settled and the vast majority of the Kurdish political class has come out in support of the vote.

Bashar Warda, the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic church in Irbil, said it was his hope the bellicose language between the two sides would subside and that Baghdad would recognize the peaceful democratic exercise and move forward with dialogue.

“Voting is such a peaceful event,” Warda said as he left a polling place in the Christian enclave of Ainkawa with members of his congregation. “In the Middle East, usually when to gain something it is through violence … as a church, we will support a peaceful, mutual dialogue.”

Fahim reported from Istanbul. The Washington Post’s Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

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